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Transcending the Mundane: The First Step in Finding Purpose

Courage is not only needed when you’re 14,000 feet in the air rethinking whether or not you should have signed up to skydive, but slowly making your way off the helicopter in hopes that it will be the fastest minute of your life. Bravery is not just necessary in those fleeting moments when, unsure of what to do, you move forward hoping the challenge will end soon.

By merging courage and bravery and fueling the two with love, what do we get? Some might say victory. But, when it comes to life, does the victory ever end? Can we live in a perpetual state of triumph? I dare say many already do.

“Can we live in a perpetual state of triumph? I dare say many already do.”

We seem to be moving in the right direction, expanding the dialogue about passionate, fulfilling careers, conscious living, and seeing the two as propelling factors that work to fuel and recharge us day by day. Notwithstanding, the underlying question that asks us to evaluate our life’s purpose is often like the big elephant in the vast room of the mind. This is a question we can’t escape from; it will continue to knock on our mind’s door, especially when we least expect it.

While passion and ambition are highly oversold in a society that places too much importance on timely production, there is an ease that derives from having a sense of direction — even when choosing to go nowhere. Is your career goal a means to an end or an end in itself? In the long search for purpose, let us always return to ourselves with introspective wonder, shifting and molding what needs to be altered.

“Is your career goal a means to an end or an end in itself? In the long search for purpose, let us always return to ourselves with introspective wonder, shifting and molding what needs to be altered.”

Oftentimes, we’re five years into a job that was supposed to be temporary because, well, life happens. But here’s the key to unlock all fears and doubts: life happens for you, not to you.

If you find that your purpose has been stripped, your inspiration lost in the abyss of day-to-day to-do lists, remember that your work in this life transcends more than yourself. Your work is the key to happiness, that which you experience yourself and that which you offer to others — including your loved ones. In Elizabeth Gilbert’s widely acclaimed book, “Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fears” she explains that we must first fuel ourselves before we can fuel the world, also stating that, “the universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.” (p. 8)

Here’s where courage and bravery make a grand entrance. Now that we know that life happens for us, we can make the decision to align deeply with our purpose. Not quite sure what yours is? You’re not alone. Not quite sure what aligning to your purpose means? Here’s an easy first step: establish what you don’t want your life to look like and move forward from there.

“Not quite sure what aligning to your purpose means? Here’s an easy first step: establish what you don’t want your life to look like and move forward from there.”

Be courages in your search for truth; be brave in living your truth. Do not let the world tell you that you cannot live the magical life that was carved out for you. It is already yours.

By Suanny Garcia Barales

*** If you are interested in finding a deeper sense of purpose in life, check out our editor in chief’s Purposeful Life Coaching program for a 15-minute complimentary consultation.